Great scholar hat
I’m wearing my great scholar hat all this week. I won a big research grant last year (well, big for the humanities: $5000!) and am presenting my results at a conference next week. I have this terrible tendency when doing research of making my project larger and larger, which is what I’ve done with this. So while I have lots of research already done and significant sections of the project written (much more than I thought!), I’m also wondering if I will EVER finish it. The good news is I have a deadline, which always helps, doesn’t it?
I’ve mostly finished my powerpoint presentation now, so I’m writing an outline today—I know that sounds backwards, but when I do presentations on my work in gender and culture, I usually start with the images. I had a rough presentation outline already, of course, but now I’m filling it in: what exactly do I need to say about class and internet usage? how much should I talk about how women use the internet for medical purposes initially, and become more gradually introduced to other elements of digital culture? which quotes from the critics do I need to use? It doesn’t help that this presentation is a half hour long—which isn’t nearly enough time, but because it’s so much longer than I normally get at conferences (15-20 minutes), it’s hard to judge how to make the talk broad enough in scope without overwhelming everybody with detail.
I was expressing my preconference anxiety to my good friend the biologist at lunch yesterday, who was horrified when he asked me what our presentations are generally like. In humanities, most people write ten pages and then read them. Not the most thrilling presentation method, and not one I’m using—I always feel very daring when using powerpoint (and it really is daring, because who knows if everything will work as it should). But I am still trying to decide if I should just speak from my outline or if I should read more. I could always talk my way through the transitions and read the longer sections of analysis… hmm.
Well, as thrilling as this description of writing-in-process must be, I suppose I should stop taking a break and get back to writing itself. Although first I have a load of laundry to fold up. I wonder how many people wearing their great scholar hats are stopping to wash clothes today?
I’ve mostly finished my powerpoint presentation now, so I’m writing an outline today—I know that sounds backwards, but when I do presentations on my work in gender and culture, I usually start with the images. I had a rough presentation outline already, of course, but now I’m filling it in: what exactly do I need to say about class and internet usage? how much should I talk about how women use the internet for medical purposes initially, and become more gradually introduced to other elements of digital culture? which quotes from the critics do I need to use? It doesn’t help that this presentation is a half hour long—which isn’t nearly enough time, but because it’s so much longer than I normally get at conferences (15-20 minutes), it’s hard to judge how to make the talk broad enough in scope without overwhelming everybody with detail.
I was expressing my preconference anxiety to my good friend the biologist at lunch yesterday, who was horrified when he asked me what our presentations are generally like. In humanities, most people write ten pages and then read them. Not the most thrilling presentation method, and not one I’m using—I always feel very daring when using powerpoint (and it really is daring, because who knows if everything will work as it should). But I am still trying to decide if I should just speak from my outline or if I should read more. I could always talk my way through the transitions and read the longer sections of analysis… hmm.
Well, as thrilling as this description of writing-in-process must be, I suppose I should stop taking a break and get back to writing itself. Although first I have a load of laundry to fold up. I wonder how many people wearing their great scholar hats are stopping to wash clothes today?
posted by Lisa at 3/09/2005 12:29:00 PM
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